My Favorite Monet

by | Art | 4 comments

Bouquet of Sunflowers

This oil painting on canvas, which measures 39 3/4 x 32 in, is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Here is a description of the painting as posted on the Metropolitan Museum web site:

In December 1888 Van Gogh wrote: “Gauguin was telling me the other day that he had seen a picture by Claude Monet of sunflowers in a large Japanese vase, very fine, but—he likes mine better. I don’t agree.” Gauguin must have seen Monet’s “Sunflowers” in the 1882 Impressionist exhibition or, like Van Gogh, at Durand-Ruel’s gallery in Paris in early 1886. That spring it was acquired for an exhibition at the National Academy of Design, New York, by A. J. Kingman, and has remained in American collections ever since: with Catholina Lambert, from 1892, and the Havemeyers, from 1899 to 1929. “Sunflowers” appear in four views Monet painted in 1881 at Vétheuil of the steps to his garden, from which this bouquet was probably cut.

The painting is signed and dated on the upper right in this way: Claude Monet 81

Bouquet of Sunflowers is very similar to this one:

Jerusalem Artichoke Flowers (painted in 1880)

Which do you like best?

4 Comments

  1. Queen of Carrots

    We have a print of that picture hanging on our bedroom wall. I also have one of children in a garden of sunflowers for the nursery. Both very lovely, but I like the up-close one best.

    Reply
  2. sprittibee

    That’s easy. The one on top… I just sold my copy to someone that we’ve had in our spare bathroom for the past ten years. 🙂 I finally gave it up since we’ve been in a tiny apartment for the past 8 months now… and the kids were destroying the poster with moisture since this tiny bathroom they both share now has no ventilation. I like the red in the above painting… and love the larger flowers. I have so many favorite paintings…

    van Gogh’s Starry Night over the Rhone
    van Gogh’s The Café Terrace on the Place du Forum, Arles, at Night
    Red Poppy by Georgia O’Keeffe
    Edvard Munch’s “The Scream”
    DAVID Jacques Louis (1748-1825) – “The First Consul crossing the Alps at the Grand-Saint-Bernard pass” (Painting of Napoleon on his White Horse) Angel with Lute by Rosso Fiorentino

    … I could go on all night… but I’ll have to stop! 🙂 Thanks for making me look them all up to gaze at again.

    Reply
  3. Karen Nichols

    Camille Monet (1847–1879) in the Garden at Argenteuil, 1876

    Reply
  4. Elizabeth Fox

    The painting is “Camille Monet in the Garden at Argenteuil, 1876.”

    Reply

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